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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

RJ Berry: The Right-Wing, Anti-LGBT Rights, Anti-Women's Choice, Anti-Immigrant Candidate We Have to Beat

There's an email touting Republican RJ Berry's mayoral candidacy that's reportedly getting wide distribution this week in Albuquerque. In big, pink letters it proclaims that Berry is:

*THE ONLY PRO LIFE MAYORAL CANDIDATE

*THE ONLY PRO TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE CANDIDATE

Click to see the entire email (pdf).

As I've written before, Berry is one of those right-wing "marriage is for one man and one woman" guys. He's a dangerous foe of the LGBT community and doesn't even support domestic partnerships or civil unions, let alone marriage equality. Now we see that his supporters are also bragging that he's against a women's right to choose. And don't forget his hate-mongering on the immigration issue throughout this campaign.

Berry is not exactly a civil liberties kind of guy. He apparently believes that his personal religious beliefs should trump the U.S. Constitution, and that Hispanics should be targeted and harassed to prove their US citizenship whenever law enforcement officials feel like it. LGBT citizens? In Berry's world, they don't deserve the same rights under civil law to which everyone else in America is entitled.

What else can we expect if Berry manages to split the Democratic vote and win the mayoral election? If he implements the dangerous far-right agenda he's advocating, he just might roll back the green energy initiatives that are making Albuquerque a leader in the fight against catastrophic climate change -- and he certainly wouldn't advance any additional renewable energy initiatives. Remember, right-wingers don't believe that greenhouse gases are causing climate problems. Berry would no doubt implement a right wing social agenda. And he would likely adopt a wingnut crime plan that would result in unreported crime for things like domestic violence.

Albuquerque's municipal election day is Tuesday, October 6. You can at four locations through Friday. When you do vote, I hope you think about who has the best chance to beat RJ Berry, whether it's by garnering at least 40% of the vote on election day, or beating him one-on-one in a run-off election on November 24. Vote with your head, not just your heart.

September 30, 2009 at 09:37 AM in 2009 Albuquerque Mayoral Race, Business, Civil Liberties, GLBT Rights, Women's Issues | Permalink

Comments

There's no way in h e double hockey sticks that Berry will get more than the 40% he needs to win the mayor's race outright. He'll be in a runoff with either Chavez or Romero, unless they end up in a runoff against each other.

This fear-based idea that a vote for Romero is really a vote for Berry is ludicrous. Berry can only win on the basis of votes for him, not votes for another candidate! Vote for the candidate you truly prefer in the October 6 election.

Posted by: Proud Democrat | Sep 30, 2009 11:20:20 AM

Are you concerned that Berry could beat Romero in the runoff? I'm willing to be corrected, but I just don't see that happening.

Do you know something about Romero that the rest of us don't know, something that could be dropped on the public in mid-November?

If not, I have to agree with Proud Dem: Richard Romero is not a third party spoiler, he's a progressive Dem who most likely will beat RJ Berry, GOP trogdolyte, if he's in the runoff...just as Chavez will.

Berry can only get to 40% by getting to 40% of votes cast...it's irrelevant how the other 60% are split.

Posted by: PhoenixRising | Sep 30, 2009 1:06:10 PM

I think Barb's take on this has merit. Nobody knows for sure but Romero will likely get very few Republican or Independent votes. Because he has run such a negative campaign against Marty many of Marty's Dem supporters may either vote for Berry or stay home. How can Romero get votes outside of the college-downtown area?

Posted by: Old Dem | Sep 30, 2009 2:06:04 PM

I'm glad Romero supporters are so sure he can get into the runoff and beat Berry. This isn't last year. Wonder why there are so many smear comments about Chavez on the posts but nobody is saying anything about Berry. Not very smart. Some Romero fans told me they will vote for Berry if Marty is in a runoff with him. How progressive.

Posted by: KR | Sep 30, 2009 3:39:39 PM

So we have two bad choices, homophobic Berry and corrupt Chavez. Remind me again why we should not vote for Romero?

Posted by: Six | Oct 1, 2009 12:30:49 AM

Because he can't win

Posted by: barb | Oct 6, 2009 11:06:26 PM

LOL! And you "progressives" thought that right wing ideals where dead. Think again. I can actually say I am a little bit proud to live in this city now.

Posted by: tal | Oct 6, 2009 11:34:27 PM

Your ideas lost "tal" - ABQ voters supported Dems by a margin of almost 60-40%. Berry is a fluke. The only good thing is that a Repub will get the job of dealing with the economic mess created by Republicans.

Posted by: barb | Oct 7, 2009 1:14:18 AM